1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a printed circuit board connector ("PCB connector") fitting structure, and particularly, it relates to a fitting structure for a secure attachment between a PCB connector fixed to a printed circuit board and a mating connector.
2. Description of Relevant Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional PCB connector fitting structure illustrated in FIG. 11 of TOKKAEIHEI (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.) 3-226979, including a printed circuit board 1 and a PCB connector 3.
The PCB connector 3 is fastened to the printed circuit board 1 by screws 5, 5. The circuit board 1 has an array of multiple terminals 7 individually soldered to circuitry thereof. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the circuit board 1 with the connector 3 attached thereto is accommodated to be fixed in a case 9.
An unshown mating connector fitting apparatus is set to the PCB connector 3 fixed to the case 9. The fitting apparatus is of a lever insertion type in which a cam mechanism is operable with a lever for having a mating connector forced or pulled to be inserted inside the PCB connector.
During insertion, the terminals 7 are respectively forced to fit in or on mating terminals provided in the mating connector. This fitting or mating of terminals as well as their pull-out or unmating requires application of a significant force. However, the PCB connector 3 is secured to the printed circuit board 1 simply by the screws 5 and the terminals 7 are soldered to the circuit board 1, without additional attachment measures.
Therefore, when mating or unmating the terminals, screwed or soldered parts of the PCB connector fitting structure tend to directly receive relatively great forces due to an operation of a lever of the mating connector fitting apparatus, which can cause their breakage or disconnections of associated circuits. When the operator is required to have the mating connector attached to or detached from the PCB connector, sufficient care is required so as to not cause undue forces to act on the screwed or soldered parts, thus taking a long time.
To this point, the PCB connector 3 has a mass and may produce irregular sounds due to an undesirable attachment to the case 9 such as in application to a vehicle. Thus a secure attachment of the PCB connector 3 to the printed circuit board 1 is necessary.